It is Chinese New Year today.

I went to China Town in Yokohama to see Chinese New Year's celebration.

This is a film of  'Lion Dance'.  Lion Dancers visit stores and restaurants to welcome fortune to them.

Another film of Lion Dance

Kantei-byo Mausoleum is decorated with red lanterns.

A portrait of Kantei,War Lord of China 

Another mausoleum, Maso-byo. Maso is a goddess of China.

A trumpeter in the precinct of Maso-byo Mausoleum

Written and posted by a Yokohama local, Mitsutoshi Masunari.

Grand Sumo Wrestling

Many flags are fluttering in the breeze.Wrestlers' names are printed on the flags outside the gym.

Gaga-maru(Georgian) vs Kaisei(Brazilian);Gaga won

Kakuryu vs Koto-oshu; Kaku is from Mongolia and Koto is from Bulgaria. Kakuryu won.

This is the most focused bout of today, so many enterprises sponsored this bout. Hakuho won against Kiseno-sato.Hakuho won the lion's share of today's money prize.

 Grand Sumo Wrestlig has become international. Among 42 wrestlers in the top ranking group, there are 27 Japanese,

7 mongols, 2 Bulgarians, 2 Georgians, a Russian, an Estonian, a Brazilian and a Czech.

Coming of Age Day

The second Monday of January is Coming of Age Day. It is a national holiday. Most of the cities in Japan hold celebrations for young people who turned 20 years old. 

  Many girls who attend the ceremony wear kimonos on this day.

Around this time the ceremony ended and a big group of young people are heading toward Shin-Yokohama Station.
Congratulations!

'Hakone Ekiden', College Students' Long-Distance Relay Road Race

I went to Hodogaya Station to see College student's Ekiden Race. It is one of the most popular sport events in Japan. Twenty university teams participate in the race every year including one mixed team which consists of ten runners from different universities which are not qualified in the race.

On January 2, the race starts from the head office of Yomiuri Shimbun, a newspaper company which is in the city center of Tokyo and finishes at Hakone which is famous as a sightseeing spot. The distance from the start to the goal is 108.0 km(67.12miles). The course is divided into five relays. On Jan. 3, sixth runners start from Hakone and tenth runners finish the goal line in front of Yomiuri Shimbun.

Each runner is accompanied by police motorcycles. Hodogaya is in the second(1st day) and the ninth (2nd day) relays. The ninth runner of Toyo University is leading the race.

On the side walk near Hodogaya Station, taiko drummers are cheering the whole race.

After I saw all of the 20 runners around Hodogaya Station, I drove to the Nihonbashi area which is close to the finish line.

The tenth runner of Komazawa University is heading for the goal. Komazawa came in second.

On the side walk of the Nihonbashi area, the cheering group of Nippon Sport Science University are chanting their runner.  
The race finished with Toyo University's overwhelming lead to Komazawa University.

Happy New Year！

Mitsutoshi as a grandfather

On January 1st, my grandson came to see us with his parents. This is the first time I introduce him to my blog readers. He is one year and ten months old.  ' Happy New Year'